taylor



(No Model.)

H. H. TAYLOR.

PESSARY. No. 476,698. Patented June 7, 1892.

Fig

IIVVE/VIOR valve is closed.

UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

HORACE H. TAYLOR, OF FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO NATHAN IV. MOODY, OF SAME PLACE.

PESSARY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 476,698, dated June '7, 1892.

Application filed August 21, 1891. Serial No. 403,337. (No model.)

To all whom it 17mg concern:

Be it known that I, HORACE H. TAYLOR, of Fresno, in the county of Fresno and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Instruments for Support of the omb, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention includes a pessary of novel construction and a speciallyconstructed support for said pessary when in place, substantially as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure l is a mainly-sectional anatomical View in outline of the generative organs of a female with my improved pessary applied, also showing a support for said pessary when in place. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section, upon a larger scale, of the pessary, which is an air inflated longitudinally expansible and collapsible one, also showing a pumping device for inflating the pessary applied; and Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the support for the pessary detached.

A indicates the pessary, which is an elastic one, made of india-rubber or the like, in the form of a cylinder or tube having an upper closed concave orothersuitably-shaped wombsupporting end b, but of convex form at its lower end a. The sides of this pessary-body A are made thinner than the ends and are transversely corrugated or ribbed, either internally or externally, but preferably internally, as shown at (Z, whereby when said pessary-body is inflated with air it will expand longitudinally like a circular bellows, but is restrained from expanding in diameter beyond a proper limit, and when the air under pressure is allowed to escape from said body the latter is free to collapse. The convex or lower end 0 of said pessary has a lower stemlike tubular extension f, open at both ends, with a chamber 6 intermediately of its length to receive a check-valve E, opening upward, and the stem g of which projects slightly below the lower end of the extension f when the Said extension f is conicalin shape to provide for the ready attachment or slipping on and over it the one end of a rubher or other tube O, which carries at its opposite end a rubber bulb D, that by compres sion forces air into the pessaryAthrough the valve B to make the pessary assume its cylindrical or circular form and to increase the length of the pessary sufficiently to hold the uterus U in place. The upper concave end I) of the pessary is preferably made with its one 6v or patient can determine which side should be placed directly under the uterus. IVhen the sphincter muscles are not cut or destroyed from disease or other cause, then the pessary may be held in place without any external support, and it will only be necessary for the physician or patient to insert the pessary in its collapsed state into the vagina and with the fingers of the one hand to place it as near as possible in position. The rubbertube C is then attached to the stem f of the pessary,

and by compression of the bulb D of the inflating device air is forced into the pessary to an extent only that will not distend the walls of the pessary beyond its proper diameter, but

still will fill the pessary and elongate it, so as to push the uterus, which rests in the concave end I) of the pessary, up to its proper position without affecting the walls of the vagina, the convex end a of the pessary being held in position by the contraction of the muscles.

When the contractile power of the vagina, however, is lost or destroyed, then an outside support to the pessary will be necessar and here the support E is broughtinto play. This support consists of a steel rod, covered with 0 gutta-percha or the like, adapted to extend up the body close to the person and provided at its upper end with a steel band i, that partly reaches around the patient near or at the waist and is held in place by a strap or straps 7.; or other suitable closing means, while the lower bent portion of the rod is provided with a tubular socket or cup-shaped projection Z, open both above and below, adapted to receive down within or through it the lower end of the stem f of the pessary and so that the valve-stem g of the valveB will projectsome little distance below said tubular socket Z. This construction allows of the rubber tube 0 being attached at any time without interfering with the external support E. After the pessaryhas been infiated,then the patient may either attach the bulb D of the inflating device to her garments beneath or she may disconnect the rubber tube and bulb from the pessary and remove it. It is only necessary, in order to remove the pessary A from the person without pain or trouble, for the patient to apply her finger to the outer end of the valve-stem g and raise or open the valve, when the confined air in the pessary will be allowed to es cape and the pessary will collapse, so as to admit of its easy removal. The pessary-support E or inflating device 0 D, if then in use or applied, should also be removed.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. An elastic hollow longitudinally-extensible pessary, made of india-rubber. or the like, with its upper and lower extremities of greater thickness than its side walls.

2. An elastic hollow longitudinally-extensible pessary having transversely corrugated or ribbed side walls of less thickness and more flexible than its ends.

3. A pessary comprising a cylindrical hollow body of flexible material, having its sides thinner than the ends and transversely corrugated, a concave upper end, and a tubular extension projecting from the lower end and provided with a check-valve in said tubular extension, said valve having its stein projecting beyond the end of the tubular extension, substantially as herein shown and described.

4:. The combination, with the pessary A, provided with the tubular extension f, and the check-valve B in said extension, of a band and a bent rod secured to the band and provided at its free end with an open-ended socket adapted to fit upon the extension of the pessary, said extension projecting through said socket, substantially as herein shown and described.

IIORACE II. TAYLOR.

Witnesses:

J. L. MARBLE, J. M, MCDONALD. 

